Spring for fold-over articles



Aug. 14, 1951 R. HATFIELD SPRING FOR FOLD-OVER ARTICLES Filed Feb. 4

/8 (marmamarmo INVENTOR. 2054-21 A. HA rr/up BY icau'wa ATTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 14, 1951 SPRING FOR FOLD-OVER ARTICLES Robert L. Hatfield,East Orange, N. J assignor to Nash Inc., Jersey City, N. J a corporationof New Jersey Application February 4, 1950, Serial No. 142,414

8 Claims.

The device of the present invention relates generally to fold-overarticles, as for example, bill-folds or the like, and means forautomatically unfolding same. Specifically, the present inventionrelates to a device for insertion in a fold-over article, which devicecan be bent medially against its normal biasing, and which willautomatically open and flatten the article in which it is inserted onrelease of the bend holding means.

The main object of the present invention, therefore, is the provision ofa device for insertion in a fold-over article which can be bent mediallyagainst its normal biasing, and which will automatically unfold toresume its normal fiat condition on release of the bend holding means.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an H-spring,the wings of which are normally fiat lying in a single plane but may bebent over against one another.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an H-springcomprising two elements and a holding member therefor.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of anH-spring comprising two elements and a holding member therefor, eachelement comp-rising a portion of each wing of the H-spring, atdiagonally opposite sides thereof.

' Other and further objects of the present invention will in part beobvious and in part pointed out specifically in the followingdescription of an illustrative embodiment thereof. The presentinvention, as will be obvious, has many uses and applications. While Ihave described same in relation to a wallet of the bill-fold type, it isto be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings annexed hereto and forming a part hereof,

Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 are perspective views of the H-spring of myinvention, illustrating the components and the several steps in theassembly thereof;

Figure 5 is a vertical section on the line 5--5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the device of my invention positionedwithin a wallet of the bill-fold, or fold-over type; and

Figure '7 is an edge elevational view of the wallet according to Figure6, in folded position.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, the device of I my invention comprisesa pair of elongated wires or rods I 0, I 0 of thin section springmaterial both bent, as shown, to provide a body portion I2, I2a and legportions I4, Ha, I6, Ifia. Legs I4, I6a are bent at right angles to thebody portions I2, IZa, respectively, and legs Ma, I6 are bent down atright angles to bodies I2, I 2a, legs I4, IB and I 4a, IBa beingparallel to each other. Each member I0 thus forms a zig-zag or Z-elementand it will be so referred to hereinafter. The Z-elements I 0, I 0 arepaired together, arranged as shown in Figure 1, with the body portionsI2, I2a against one another in parallelism, and with leg I6a of onemember coincident with leg I4 of the other, and with leg Ma of the onecoincident with leg IB of the other. The ends of legs I4, I604 may beinturned to form eyelets as I5, Ila.

An elongated flexible coil spring I8, normally expansible, is provided,of such internal diameter as to receive the paired legs I6, I411therethrough, and of length normally longer than body portions I2, I2a.Coil I8 is threaded over the paired legs I la, I6, as in the right handside of Figure 2, past the right angle at I9 until it reaches the rightangle at ZI. Spring I8 isthen compressed so that its length is less thanthe body portions I2, I 4. With one Z-member held firmly, the otherZ-member is swung through with respect thereto, into the position ofFigure 3, and the free ends of legs Ma and I6 are inturned into eyeletsas at Ma and I! respectively. In this H-form, spring I8 is trappedbetween legs Ma, I6 along one side of the H, and legs I4, Ilia along theother side thereof. Each member I 0 may be swung freely about the otherwithin coil I8, but the paired legs I l, Ma forming one wing of thespring can be swung with respect to the other wing formed of paired legsI6, Ilia only against the resistance inherent in the material, since therelative movement of the Wings causes torsional movement of the wires orrods along the length of their body portions I2, I2a.

While my H-spring will be completely operable as described hereinabove,I provide means to secure the parts in the relative positions shown inFigure 3. These means comprise plates 24, 26, of light, thin material,as acetate or other plastic sheet material. Each plate comprises a bodyportion 25, 21 and side flanges 25a, 25a and 21a, 21a respectively bentover against the body. Suitable rivets passing through the side flangesand the bodies of the plates, and through eyelets I5, I5a, I1, Ilasecure the plates to the legs of the H-spring, as will be readilyunderstood from Figure 4. Thus, legs [4, Ma and sheet 24 comprise onewing of the spring of my invention, and legs l6, IBa and sheet 26comprise the other and opposing wing, on the other side of the jointline of members I2, I20, held together by coil spring 18. Plates 24, 26are preferably of such length as to extend beyond the eyelets at theouter ends of the spring. At the inner ends of plates 24, 26, they areso spaced from the body portions 12, 120. as to avoid interference withthe flexion of the members H), H] near the body portions thereof.

Each component IO, N] of my spring has five working portions. Thoseparts of legs l4, l6, and I6, 16a covered by the plastic plates toincrease their stiffness comprise two portions of each component. Theuncovered parts of the legs between the covered parts and the bodyportions comprise two portions of each compo- ,nent,.with the body beingthe fifth working portion. The leg portions act in pure fiexure, bendingwith different resistances, while the body portion acts in torsion,twisting on itself as the legs are bent toward each other.

The motion of the legs of each component l0, l relative to each other isthrough 180; that is, one wing vmay swing through an arc 180 about themiddle portion, or both wings may be bent simultaneously towards eachother, the total of the movements being 180. A single straight,elongated wire, round or flat, could not be satisfactorily employed, forthe repeated 180 of movement would result in the acquisition of apermanent set, and the wire or rod would not return to the originalflat-lying condition and position. The use of two wires I0, I0 and theoffsets between the legs and the middle portion avoids the set andprevents its formation since there is no fiexure but only torsion alongand about the middle parts of the wires 10, ID.

The riveting of the plastic plates to the leg eyelets preventslongitudinal movement of the plates and alteration of the overall lengthof the spring.

bend action takes place always along the center line of theinstallation.

In Figures 6 and '7, I have illustrated the use of the spring accordingto the present invention in a wallet of the bill-fold type; that is, awallet which ,is folded along a center line. The wallet 50 is formed ofa number of elongated sheets as 52, 54 of leather, plastic or the like,between two of which my spring is inserted as to fit snugly and becovered thereby. When one side of the wallet is bent over against theother, and looked as by a strap 55, extending from the end of one sideover to the other and looked as by cooperating snaps 56, 58, the legs ofthe spring, stiffened by the enveloping plates will lie flatly andsubstantially as shown in Figure 7 against the tension built up againstthe normal, flat- 'lyin'g'bia'sing of the legs. The uncovered portionsof thejlegs, adjacent the middles I2, lZa will .flex adjacent the twistor torsion line within coil spring 18. When the bend-holding strap 55 isunsn'apped and released, the wallet will automatically snap back,springing into the open fiat position of Figure 6, due to the loading ofthe wings as a result of the fold-over. I

My spring components are all of thin section material. Wires or .rods I0, 10 may be of the order of .026" 'in'diameter, with the wire of coilI8 of about .010" thick. Thus, with a minimum clearance of some .002between body portions l2, IZa, the outside diameter of my spring at thetorsion line is about .074". The acetate plate may be of .007" inthickness, and when doubled over the legs, which are of .026" thickness,the overall thickness will be about .040", which will not beobjectionably bulky even when used in a bill-fold as 55.

It will thus be seen that, with my construction, there is provided anH-spring formed of two Z-members of thin metallic material reversed withrespect to each other, but with their body portions held together, alaterally extending leg of one Z-member pairing with a laterallyextending leg of the other member to form a wing of the H-spring. Fexionof the material is minimized, the bend-over of the spring resulting fromtorsion of the central body portions of the Z-members, whereby the.spring thus created lasts longer and operates more satisfactorily thanconventional spring hinge arrangements.

' What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A normally flat-lying spring hinge comprising a pair of relativelythin and'flexible elongated spring metal wires, each bent to provide astraight central body portion, a straight leg portion at one end of thebody extending upwardly therefrom, and a straight leg portion at theother end of the body portion extending downwardly therefrom, the pairedwires being disposed with their body portions against each other andwith their legs extended in alignment from the body portions, and meanscoextensive in length therewith to hold the body portions against eachother.

2. A spring hinge as in claim 1, in which the last named means comprisea tubular member encircling the body portions.

3. A spring hinge as in claim 1, in which the holding means comprise aflexible, tubular spring member encircling the body portions, saidspring being axiall expansible and under axial compression about thebody portions.

4. A spring hinge as in claim 1, in which the legs extend from the bodyportions at right angles thereto, and the holding means comprise aflexible, tubular spring encircling the body portions under axialcompression, the spring being trapped between the extended legs onopposite ends of the body members.

5. A normally fiat-lying H-spring hinge composed of a pair of elongatedmembers of relatively thin spring wire each bent to provide a straightcentral body portion and straight legs at the end thereof extendingangularly therefrom in diametrically opposite directions, the wiresIbeing disposed and resiliently secured together with their bodyportions in coincidence forming the cross bar of the H, with their legcomponents extending from opposite sides and ends of the body portionsin a single plane forming the side components of the H, the legs abovethe cross-bar defining one wing of the hinge, and the legs below thecross-bar defining the other wing of the hinge, the wings being bendabletowards and into substantial parallelism with each other.

6. A normally fiat-lying H-spring hinge composed of a pair of elongatedmembers of spring wire each bent to provide a straight central bodyportion and straight legs at the end thereof extending angularlytherefrom in opposite directions, the wires being disposed with theirbody portions in coincidence forming the cross bar of the H, meansencircling the body portions along the length thereof to retain the saidbody portions in coincidence, with their leg components extending fromopposite sides and ends of the body portions in a single plane formingthe side components of the H, the legs above the crossbar beingconnected for simultaneous movement as one wing of the hinge, and thelegs below the cross-bar defining the other wing of the hinge also beingconnected for simultaneous movement, said wings being bendable towardsand into substantial parallelism with each other.

7. An H-spring hinge composed of a pair of elongated members of springwire each bent to provide a central body portion and legs at the endthereof extending angularly therefrom in opposite directions, the wiresbeing disposed with their body portions in coincidence forming the crossbar of the H, with their leg components extending from opposite sidesand ends of the body portions in a single plane forming the sidecomponents of the H, the legs above the cross-bar being connected formovement simultaneously as one wing of the hinge with respect to thelegs below the cross-bar, said legs also being con- 6 nected formovement simultaneously as the other wing of the hinge, the legconnections being plates of thin, fiat material limiting the flexibilityof the leg portions engaged thereby.

8. An H-spring as in claim 7, in which the plates engage portions of thelegs on opposite sides of the body members spaced away from the bodymembers, the plates limiting only the flexibility of the wing portionsengaged thereby, the leg portion between the plates and the bodyportions flexing to a limited extent on movement of one wing withrespect to the other simultaneously with the twisting of the bodymembers.

ROBERT L. HATFIELD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 178,073 Miller May 30, 1876352,071 Shaw Nov. 2, 1886 1,070,202 Strange Aug. 12, 1913

